A behavior therapy procedure widely used to modify behaviors associated with phobias. The procedure involves the construction of a hierarchy of anxiety-producing stimuli by the subject and gradual presentation of the stimuli until they no longer produce anxiety. Also called desensitization.
A technique in which a patient imagines multiple scenarios of progressively greater anxiety while utilizing relaxation techniques until they no longer cause anxiety; used as an adjunct to pharmacological therapies in treating severe anxiety.
A form of behavior therapy, used particularly for phobias, in which the patient is gradually exposed to anxiety-producing stimuli until they no longer produce anxiety.
A technique for treating phobias that involves successively pairing relaxation with imagined phobic images along a continuum that starts with the least feared and progresses to the most feared image.